Motherwit

Using the classic short story form with surprise endings to great effect, Urmila Pawar brings to life strong and clever women from all classes of society: heroines who are brave in the face of caste oppression, strong in opposing their in-laws, defiant when insulted, and determined when guarding their interests or those of their sisters.

Pawar identifies herself as a Dalit woman writer, a Buddhist, and a feminist–and all three identities reveal themselves powerfully in her stories. But the protagonists are not always Dalit, and the mood is not always one of anger, as Pawar eschews the stereotypes that attach themselves to the genre. Her harsh, sometimes vulgar, and always hard-hitting language subverts another stereotype: that of the soft-spoken woman writer.

A brilliant collection of stories from one of India’s foremost Dalit writers, Motherwit brings marginalized voices into the mainstream.